What needs to be done?

#1

The National Cancer Institute identified tissue preservation as perhaps the number one roadblock in cancer genomics and numerous other areas.

But preservation doesn’t affect just cancer.

Every day a massive amount of human tissue is discarded because it cannot be used in a timely way. Yet simultaneously it is routine for researchers to plan entire studies around the limited availability of quality tissue samples. This tissue shortage constrains experimental design which threatens data quality, adds waste and adds cost to research.

More than 4,000 healthy organs were discarded in 2012.

Tissue preservation also bottlenecks bioengineering, according to over a dozen US federal science agencies. Without a shelf-life, bioengineered tissues have constrained uses; with a shelf life, on-demand uses, inventories, worldwide distribution become possible.

The shortage of human tissues, caused by the inability to preserve them, severely constrains drug discovery. It adds cost. It adds time. And it adds error.

New molecules must be tested in animal models and then tested in humans, instead of using human tissue model and primary cells from the beginning. And no doubt there are molecules that fail in animal models but would be successful in humans.